Captain America wasn't the only patriotic hero created by the legendary team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. In addition to the Guardian (blue outfit, carried a shield), the Silver Age Shield for Archie (who didn't carry a shield), did you know the duo also developed the Fighting American. But did you know the Fighting American was one of the first heroes to develop into a satire?

Will Eisner's The Spirit had many satirical elements, as did Jack Cole's work on Plastic Man which is much heralded today, but in the Fighting American Simon and Kirby turned a rye eye toward what the patriotic spirit was being turned into when the book was launched in 1954.

Originally conceived to be another riff on their established patriotic hero motif, the creators soured on the McCarthy-era definition of patriotism and ended up developing a character who parodied the climate and superheroes in general, but who still personified a more traditional patriotism including a love of free speech.

Radio announcer Johnny Flagg is murdered by foreign agents, but his younger, feeble brother, Nelson, allows his mind to be transferred to Johnny's rebuilt and enhanced body as the Fighting American. Joined by the requisite sidekick, Speedboy, he confronted menaces such as Hotsky Trotsky, Poison Ivan, and Round Robin.

Fighting American ran seven issues from Prize, its original publisher. An eighth issue was completed, but didn't appear until Harvey Comics released a one-shot in 1966 combined with the original #1.

The character returned when Marvel Comics collected all eight issues in 1989 in a hardcover edition. A new incarnation debuted in a 1994 six-issue series from DC Comics, and Rob Liefeld brought the character back again under his Awesome Entertainment logo in 1997.